My thoughts/rant on why mobility creep is such a huge problem (not just another bitching thread)

tl/dr: Mobility Creep is as hated as it is because of how Riot is responding to it, not just because of balance issues.

Okay, it doesn't take too long on the boards to see that a lot of people (myself included) really don't like the phenomenon known as "Mobility Creep". Since there are a lot of topics on the issue I won't go into how much I hate mobility creep or why I hate it. Instead of talking about why mobility creep is a problem, I want to talk about why it's such a controversial problem.

I get the impression that a lot of people who support mobility (or oppose the people complaining about it 24/7) are under the impression that these threads are only around because these people don't know how to play against mobility (which is probably true in some cases) and are whining that they can't win games. I also get the impression that some people who work at Riot are included in this group.

Comparing mobility creep to a lot of other balance issues just doesn't hold up. Let's say, for example, that a new champ is released, and is OP on release. People complain a lot, people argue a lot. Riot realizes that they made a mistake (or at least, made a large group of people unhappy) and when the next patch comes around, they nerf that champion, complete with a witty one-liner from Pwyff. People are happy again. Obviously, there are going to be groups that are unhappy about this (people who liked that champ or didn't think they were OP) and a lot of the people are still going to complain (the nerfs weren't enough or they're angry that there was ever a problem to begin with), but in general, most people will think that Riot made a smart decision.

Mobility creep is an entirely different beast. Not only has this been a heated topic for a long time, the response from Rioters has ranged from non-existent, to a PR nightmare. Most patches barely even address it, new champs keep coming out with tons of mobility, point-and-click abilities are being removed (this one is especially bad since it's done in the name of counterplay, and point-and-click is the counterplay to mobility), and a lot of responses about balance and mobility creep either just don't mention it, or skirt around the issue. When Riot does address mobility creep directly, they usually view it as a good thing; now, obviously, I'm not the authority on what is and isn't good for game balance, but when so many people complain about something for so long, they should at least be given a reason as to why the thing they hate so much isn't being removed. Some of these people might even be convinced. From the perspective of the people who view mobility creep as a problem, not only is Riot not fixig the problem, but they're actively, and intentionally, making it worse. The closest thing there's been to an explanation on this is this quote from Ghostcrawler (I bolded the relevant bit):

Mobility is fun and useful or we wouldn't keep adding it to kits. The problem is that too often it comes for free just to give a champ a little extra pizzazz. Roles that need a lot of mobility, like assassins, aren't a huge problem, but roles that already bring a lot to the table, especially mages and ADCs, can be. Even with these it doesn't need to be an ironclad rule that they can't dash, but they do need to pay for it elsewhere in their power budget. For these champs, we are less likely to nerf their movement mechanic and more likely to reduce their damage, survivability or control to pay for the mechanic.

I think it goes without saying that entering a discussion (on the internet no less) about how a certain element is un-fun and ruining the game by saying "No it's fun" is at worst, stupid; and at best some very, very, very poor word choice. What people want is an answer to this question: Why does Riot think mobility is fun and useful. And if this is the case why is it that so many people fail to find the fun in it? A rebuttal to that justification has already been offered several times in the form of "mobility is fun to play as but awful to play against", and, as far as I know, there's been no counter to this counterargument. People have a tendency to make assumptions (especially since this is one of the less-pleasant internet communities), and when Riot is silent on such a polarizing issue, people tend to fill in the blanks. In this case, the most common assumption is that Riot is pumping tons of mobility into the game out of greed because it allow for flashier, more exciting and more entertaining games that make them more money when put in front of an audience.

Or as it's usually called: "#LC$BIGPLAY$" (I personally don't think this is the case due to Honlan's Razor)

I'm not trying to bash Riot here. I don't think its exactly fair that they need to explain their every single action to avoid a hate-mob, and I don't believe that the majority is always right, but from a PR angle, Riot has been handling this very poorly. I made this thread because I wanted to put forth an explanation to some of the people who don't see why mobility creep is such a heated issue, to see if other people agreed with me, and because I'd been thinking about this for a while and I wanted to put my thoughts out there.